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Oct. 15, 1929. cIE. w 1 131,18

ELEVATOR SIGNAL SYSTEM Filed Dec. 14, 1928 I 1 INVENTQR; Q

CAR/POM 0/29. BY

hr A EY.,

Patented a. 15, 1929 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE v CARROLL E. ORR, OFORANGE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR T0 ELEVATORS SUPILES COM PAN Y, INCL, OFHOBOKEN, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY ELEVATOR SIGNAL SYSTEMApplication filed December 14, 1928. Serial No. 326,062.

This invention relates to elevators and particularly to'signaling meanswhereby persons desiring to make use of any one of a group of elevatorsmay register a call for the nearest elevator and receive in return asignal upon its approach.

The invention in certain of its )hases consists in certain improvementsan additional features of novelty to the system disclosed in the Smalley& Reiners Patent #826,752 and in the application for United StatesLetters Patent filed by William F. Bcatty on October 31, 1925, bearingSerial #65,?)19.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide means operative as anincident to the stopping of an elevator at any floor to produce a signalfor that floor independently of the usual signal registering means, andto cause such a result to be effected without the possibility ofinterruption in the energization of such signal already produced throughthe instrumentality of the said usual signal registering means.

With these and other objects in view the invention will be described inits preferred embodiment with respect'to the accompany,

ing drawing, which may aid in the under standing thereof.

In the drawing, which is a schematic illustration of the electricalcircuits and parts involved when the invention is applied to a pluralityof elevators serving a plurality of floors, reference characters A and Bdesignate respectively two elevators of a group of any desired numberserving any desired number of floors, three of which are indicated bythe numerals V, VI and VII,'the floor lanterns for such floors beingindicated by the reference characters 5AU, '5A D, (SAU, GAD, 'ZAU, 7A1),5BU, 513D, GBU, GED and 7BU and 713D. Signal sending devices in the formof the usual push buttons are indicated at 5U, 5D, 6U. 6D, 7U and 7D.The customary signaling devices for the benefit of the operator of theelevators are indicated at AL and BL respectively. The means for causingthe operation of the stop signals both within and without theelevator ata predetermined time in response to the operation of the push buttonsmay take any wellknown form, but as illustrated herewith comprise theusual commutator mechanism involving a plurality of brushes travelingover associated segments and'strips in synchronism with the travel ofthe associated elevators but at a proportionately reduced speed; thevarious brushes, strips and segments involved, in thedownward travel ofelevator A being indicated'by reference characters 45, 46, 58,73, 24,55,56, 57. and 74 respectively and those involved in the downward travel ofcar B being. indicated by a similar showing at the right of the drawing.

In the circuits of the up push buttons and stop signals are the signaloperating and reset magnets, the down magnet groups for the three floorsillustrated being designated collectively by the reference character M.In the cars A and B are the usual transfer and cutout switches operatedby the buttons l0 and 11 respectively. However, it will be seen as thedescription progresses that these transfer and cutout switches which arenormally closed need not be considered as a part of the presentinventionat least in its normal operation. They are preferably used toprovide means for simultaneously transferring waiting passenger signalsto the other cars and at the same time obliterating all the advancesignals for the car whose switch is thus operated. The principal novelphases of the invention will now be described. Reference character 12indicates an electromagnet or'relay adapted to be energized at all timeswhile the elevator hoisting motor for car A is in operation. This may beaccomplished by the use of any of the devices illustrated for a similarpurpose in the drawings of the Andren Patent No. 1,109,950, or anyequivalent thereof'which is of common knowledge capable of substitutiontherefor;

energized to release the brake upon starting the hoisting motor.

Coil 12 preferably has associated therewith contacts adapted to bebridged by he armature 15 when the latter is attracted by the energiaptipn of the said coil. 16 designates a resistance; unit which may beinserted in the circuit passing through the electro-magnetic relay 17,Which circuit is shown tapped from thehigh voltage leads designated bythe character's .H. V. With this arrangement it is apparent that therelay 1 will be energized at all times while the contacts at 15 arebridged-in other words at all times while the car A is in motion.

Ass ciate- 1 wi t re ay is a armhi 'l ii'r hel 'i s ihs m he e c nt cmember's 9 a 52 mme e mad therefrom whenever the relay l' is energized.h e contact. me er 19 an 2 rm Per 1 1s b anch o rcu l di g f m he Y9-"ge'. s a l t the ear i s sqa ustin s p he h Q h iit tQ f car A the p'r os' hi irhi wil r rsehfi prsar- ASSOC i 3,td Witl1 the relay 22 isthe armature'26 a da'pted to brid e the contacts 2'4 and 28 and to belifted tnerefroln upon energizatioiYofthe relay 22. These contactmanage? 'and 28 control a circuit/ to the relay'3 0 which in'turn hasassociated therewith an armature 31 adapted to rest upon the contacts 32and 33 upon the de-energization of the saidrelay 30. Resistancesffor thecircuits just described are indicated at 3d, 35 and'36; Relay mechanismfor car B similar to'that ju'stdscribed with're'ference to car A isindicated by' the reference characters l0, 41,42 and 43 in the drawing,it being understood that every car of the system'is provided withsimilar mechanism for the purpose' now to be described.

To ex lain the purpose and the functioningof t e system a typicaloperation will be followed through. Let it be supposed that car A isdescending and push button 6D has been pressed by a person waiting atthesixth floor. Let it further be supposed thatseginent 4.5 representsthe sixth floor pick-upsegment on the .down side of the commutator forcar A and segment 46 the sixth floor reset se 'ment for the downdirection of travel. lhe operation of the push; button 6D will close acircuit to the magnet GM passing irom the battery 47 1 hrough the saidmagnet and the switch operby the button 6D.

The encrgization of magnet 6M which is thus produced causes finger 4:9to make contact withjthe mercury cup 50 so as to perrnit a circuit to beclosed from the negative side of thehigh voltage source of currentthrough conductor 51, cup 50 and finger 49, conductor 52 and 53, currentconductingseg inent45, thence through one of the pairs of spanningbrushes indicated at 55, 56 and 57 to the segment 58 and thence byconductor 59 to the lantern GAD, thence back to the positive feed by wayof conductor 62, normally closed cutout switch 63 and conductor 64. Thiscircuit is first closed, it will'be understood, by the leading pair ofbrushes of the cpnni-iutator for car A, the closure taking place u onthe arrival of car A (which is assume to be the nearest car travelindownwardly) 'within the predetermined istance of the sixth floor.In'this respect the operation is similar to that preferred in the artwhenever the system disclosed in the aforesaid Smalley Reiners patent isused. Fur thermore, as is usual in the aforesaid Smalley ne sy tem, thesig al cf an A is energized upon the approach of n o to a point within hpr de mined zone o the S th floor through the. instrumentality f h rdging m b r 6 n th urreh conductingstrip 66, these ppe nting to close ac rcuit to t a qresaid ishal". p lle wit he r u rea threes the segm 5 ndlan ern QAD.

During normal operation, that is to. say while a car is tr'ayelingineither direction, its relay units corresppnding to those indicated at.2, 17, 22 and 30 with reference to car A will remain in the condition inwhich these un ts appe in th draw This. whenever car A is i i-motion thebridging members 5 a 2. r zi cheek-a a in n sition W l he h i eih m mhrs- 18. nd 31 are n ui p n n wh ch, as sh wn- Thcrcfore in heeveht tha cr- A passes the Sixth ne ithen stoppi g t n c up h P r ing a that itemwho had pr viously registered ghel th ough-the instepme a y of bu ton 1h 'sis l thus res tered remain potentially operable lay-the n pp oa ng e(W B n t e present instance) inasmuch as the circuit to, the re-'storing magnet 6R will remain open at the contacts 32 and 33notwithstanding its closure at another point by the operation of thetraveling bridging member- '-F() at the moment of passing the sixthfloor.

Such automatic transfer of the stop signal initiated by the pressing ofbutton 61) willcontinue until a car stops to answer the call, it beingunderstood that all connnutator-s are cross-connected in a mannersimilar to the cross-connections indicated for the commutators of cars Aand B. As soon as another carstops at the sixth floor its bridgingmember corresponding to the member 31 shown with reference to car A willcause a closure of the restoring circuit in conjunction with theoperation of the associated commutator, thereby restoring the mercuryfinger 45k to its no.r-. mally raised position. Such closure is broughtabout by the electrical interc0nnection of the relay units of each groupin. such a way that the stopping of the associated elevator -vzhether ornot a signal for a stop has been previously registered-causes each ofthe units of the r'elay'group to reverse its position. Thus,for-example, after car A stops at the fifth door to let a passenger off,and even though no signal has been registered by the signalsending'means for the fifth floor, the immediate resu lt, occurring asan incident to or a condition precedent to such stopping, (dependentupon the particular form of mechanical equivalent employed in place ofthe relay 12) \villbe the de-energization of the relay 17 and theconsequent bridging of the contact members 19 and 20 by the armature 18.Such bridging of the contacts 19 and 20 operates to immediately close acircuit to the floor lantern 5AD in shunt with the circuit (which may ormay not have been previously closed on such occasion) through the pickupsegment 73 and including the current conducting strip 24, the circuitbeing traceable as follows: from the positive side of the high voltagesource through conductor 64, normally closed cutout switch 63, conductor62, lantern 5AD, conductor 72, segment 73, thence across the bridgingmember 74 to strip 24, thence by way of conductor and contact members 19and 20 to the negative side of the high voltage source of current.

The result is the operation of the. floor lantern SAD to announce thestopping of the car A at the fifth floor to any persons at that floorwho may not have registered a signal but nevertheless may desire the useof the elevator. In this respect the result is similar to that obtainedby the use of the instrumentalit-ies disclosed and claimed in theaforesaid Beatty application Serial No. 65,919; but the presentinvention improved upon the Beatty arrangement by causing therestoration of the signal sending mechanism to inoperative condition todepend upon the prior completion of the shunt circuit to the floorlantern passing through the strip 24this being the circuit just traced.Making the restoration so dependent upon the prior completion of thisshunt circuit. eliminates all danger of a temporary cxtinguishment ofthe floor lantern between the restoration to open condition of thenormal lantern circuit passing through the pick-up segments of thecommutator-which restoration takes place upon the arrival of therestoring brush 70 on the corresponding reset segment-and the closure ofthe shunt circuit through the strip 24:. Such temporary obliteration ofthe signal at the floor will inevitably occur frequently, therebycausing an appearance of defective circuits and a flickering action onthe part of the floor lantern, unless means are provided for makingimpossible any cancellation of the normal signal sending circuit untilcompletion of the auxiliary shunt circuit through the strip 24. Themanner in which this is accomplished by the invention disclosed herewithis as follows.

the

Inasmuch as the relay 22 depends for its energization on the closure ofa circuit pass ing through the contact members 19 and 20, this relay 22is not energized until the bridging of the said contacts by the armature18. Now, since the floor lantern 5AD is imme diately included in circuitwith the contacts 19 and 20 when they are bridged by the armature 18, itisvapparent that the relay 22 and the lantern 5A1) are in parallelcircuits which are simultaneously closed. Consequently it is positivelyestablished that the lantern SAD will be energized by means of thisfparallel circuit through the strip 24 with rst energization of therelay 22, and certainly before the-relay 22 has exerted its fullmagnetic .efiect upon the armature 26 to withdraw it from the members 27and 28 on which it normally rests.

Now until the armature 26 is thus withdrawn from the contacts 27 and 28the relay 30 remains energized and hence the circuit to the restoringmagnet 6R remains open at the contacts 32 and 33; this circuit beingclosed only by the dropping of the armature 31 pursuant to thede-energization of the relay 30. which in turn is brought about afterthe rais ing of the armature 26 previously described. It is thereforeapparent that no energization of the restoring magnet 6R can occur untilafter the energization of the floor lantern SAD. The same sequence ofoperation occurs for each floor at which an elevator is stopped throughthe operation of the corresponding means for the other floors and othere evators. possibility'of flickering of the floor \lanterns'or temporaryextinguishment thereof between the restoration of the normal push buttoncontrolled signal sending circuits and the establishment of the shuntcircuits which are independent of the push button) is thereforeeliminated.

The above-specification and the annexed drawings are to be consideredonly as illustrative of what I deem the preferred embodiment at thistime. The invention is not limited to this specific form or to anyparticular combination or application of the parts, but embraces allmodified forms and constructions within the scope of the appendedclaims. Furthermore, the ready adaptability of this invention to systemsdiffering from the aforesaid Smalley & Reiners system (such as thesystem of the Bassett Patent No. 1,666,589 for example) will be apparentto those skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. In an elevator signaling system, a pinrality of cars each serving aplurality of floors, individual landing signals at each floor for eachcar for indicating the direction of movement of said cars, controllingmeans including passenger controlled means at each floor common to allcars for preparing said said car cont-rolled means and operable .inrespouse to some act-performed incident to the loading or dischargeofipassengers a car at flo'onior operating'tllelandingignal 1,173 weepreviousoperation of said last-namedmeans for restoring to nonsignalingcondition the passenger controlled means at such floor if in signalpreparinfi position. v

Signed at Ho oken; the eountypf Hud- December A.D.1 S?28 I j V Y CARROLLE. ORR.

at-such-fioor' for that catgiand dependout for its operation-up ontlie'pievious-operation of said last-named meansforrestoring to non-signalingcondlitionfthe 'passengefomitrolled means atsuch floorifinsigualpreparing' position. 1

2. In an elevator signaling'system, -'a plurality of cars each serving aplurality of floors, individual landing. signals iat each floor for eachean.for'-'indicatimg the direction of movement of said oars, Controllingmeans including passenger controlled means at each floor common'to allcars tfor preparing said signals for energization, car controlled meansindividual tosaid oars-and operable by and in nccordance with movementsof the associated car and cooperating with :an operated pmengercontrolled means for'energizi'ng the-signal forisalid can: :uponapproach of said car to thesignaled (floor; means oooperating with-saidcar controlled mneans 'andoperable'i-n responseto some aotipeiformelincidentto the loading or dischange of-pa'ssengers on a car of any floorfor operating the'rlanding signal at vsuch floor. 01" lthatrea-r -nndmeans dependent for "its operation upon-the previous operationo-fsaidlast-named means for restoring ton'on-fsignaling condition the passengeroontrolledm'eans at-sudh floor if in signal prep'aning position m'ndfofr'mai ntaining said passengers continued-means inoperaltive'un-tiltlhejcar has left thefioor. e

3; In an elevator signaling system,-a phira-lit y of Fears eachiscrving,a pliiralityof fioois, individual --.landing signals at each floor foreach car for indicating the direction of movement of, cans, controllingmeans including passenger controlled means -at'each floor, common toall'cars, for preparing said signals for energi'zatioin, caroonhrol-ledmeans individual to said cars and operablelby' and in accordance withmovementsoi the associated car and cooperating with-an operatedpassenger controlled means tor renngizing the signo] for said car uponapproach of saidcar no the signal floor, means individual to said carsfor controlling the movements -'ofits associated ca-r, and meanscooperating with said car controlled means and operable in response tomovement of said ear-controlling means to a position to stop the caratany'floor for operating the landing signal for such floor, and meansdependent for its operation upon the son and State of New Jersey, this13th day of 170

